Alone… with God

Alone… with God

Rev. Brian Moseley

Deuteronomy 31:8

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Acts 2:25-28

“For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.”

Introduction:

This message today is both a teaching and a testimony of mine. I want to preface this by saying that I do not consider myself to be above any other person, or anything special in the Kingdom of God, although I do have an understanding through his word, of how he sees me in Christ and the authority he has provided all who will believe. I am simply at a place in my relationship and with God where I am diligently seeking deeper revelations of his Love and Presence. In my journey with him, the Holy Spirit has shown me the joy, peace and power of his word that has begun to manifest in my life. My desire deepens daily to further my testimonies, to glorify him and to help others make this real in their hearts, minds and lives. Over the last few weeks, I have begun to experience numerous attacks with inexplicable and unpredictable aggression toward me, at any time or place. Some from people I have never met and had no interaction with, and other times it was from people close to me. I was blessed to have enough of God’s word planted in my heart and the Holy Spirit to guide me, that I recognize the source of these attacks and why they were happening. It simply isn’t just about me!! The Holy Spirit has shown me that I am by far not the only believer who this is happening to at this present time. I am one of many. The news that has developed over the last few hours is that Israel is at war and the attacks that have ensued, have reminded me that The Kingdom of God is at hand. I was reminded that God is first in all things!

Isaiah 55:11

“¹¹ So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me ^[a]void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

It is so easy for us to have our view of things narrowed to our own experiences, and the reactionary and iniquitous noise of the world to distract us, that we forget to view all things from the Spiritual perspective. GOD IS MOVING GREATLY RIGHT NOW!! I initially felt convicted for not recognizing the great movements of God, and let my heart be clouded with my own experiences. I repented of these things.

God reminded me of Romans 8:28

“28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

This revelation and this view of seeing all things from the vantage point of the Kingdom, helps sharpen my heart and my spirit to react more quickly out of love and forgiveness, ignoring my carnal reactions, because I know God first loved and forgave me. God has comforted me and kept my mind and heart from condemnation. We must all realize that the closer we press into God’s presence and act in His faith, the more Satan will try to stop us, and that we are not the only ones he comes against. Even when our heart is full of emotions of loneliness and self-pity, His word teaches us that we are not alone. Here is what I am learning, and I hope it helps others as well.

1. Pressing into His embrace is:
2. Discipling in his word –

Psalms 1:2-3 “² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he ^[a]meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the ^[b]rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.”

1. Prayer–

Ephesians 6:18 “¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”

1. Holy Spirit/ praying in tongues. –

Jude 1:20-21 “²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

1. Revelation of his love for us

Ephesians 3:16-19 “¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

2. A renewed mind:
3. Changes in us manifest outwardly, impacting the physical world and the people around us.

• How we think

Proverbs 23:7 “⁷ For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.”

• Our perceptions

Romans 12:2 “² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

• How we talk and what we talk about

Matthew 12:33-34 “³³ “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴ Brood^[a] of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

• How we act in situations and toward people.

Proverbs 4:23 “²³ Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”

3. How the world reacts:
4. Some people react positively and are drawn to the love of God in us, while many others are resistant, even aggressive towards His love in us.
5. Those who would refuse Christ or even those who are unrepentant in areas of their lives, can go on the offensive towards us or be easily offended by God’s spirit in us and His truths.
6. Just as God moves through his people, in order that faith abounds and he is glorified, there are those with hardened hearts towards God Satan uses to attack and persecute us.
7. We must always remember that it is sin that is driving them. These people are being used by Satan. He is the enemy.

Ephesians 6:12 “¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of ^[a]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

4. The Mind of Christ prevails.
5. Matthew 5:11-12

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1. Matthew 24:8-14

8   All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9   Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

• And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
• Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
• And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
• But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

14   And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all        the nations, and then the end will come.

5. We must rely on the wings of eagles

Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

1. The constant attack – the armor of God has no coverings for the back side.

Ephesians 6:10-18 “¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the ^[a]wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of ^[b]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”

1. Weak and weary –

Proverbs 13:12 “¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

1. Beware of Envy, strife, confusion and every evil thing.

James 3:16 “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”

6. Look up into the hills!

Psalms 121:1-2 “
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

1. Encourage your heart.

John 16:33 “³³ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you ^[a]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Psalm 103:1-5
“Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
³ Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

1. We must train our hearts and minds through the Word of God, to recognize situations and circumstances that God wants to move in, and first, see in our imaginations, which is the hopes in our heart, how Jesus is going to handle that situation. This should be done before we act, speak or move. Seeing the hopes God has placed in our hearts for that situation, is part of it coming to pass! Many times Jesus looked up! He saw with Spiritual eyes before he prayed.
2. when we act out of our own logic and strength, there is no faith involved and it will fail. But when we wait on God to speak and instruct us, love and faith prevail! Waiting on Him, makes us fully reliant on Him and makes us only the observant servant. We are to be the witnesses of the manifestations of God! This is faith in action!!

1. The ministering spirit in the body of Christ.

John 13:34 “ ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

-In the midst of these times, God has sent people to me who would give encouragement, love and appreciation. These are affirmations to me that I am not alone. He lets me know that he sees me and appreciates me! I would feel strengthened, and it makes all that I have gone through worth it in an instant!

1. Victors instead of victims.

Psalms 138:3 “In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.”

Romans 8:31-39 “³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7. Remembering who we are in Christ.
8. Having faith in Christ is not about us being able to operate in faith but that we have total faith in Christ to handle the situation. All we do is bring Christ into the situation. We are only the vehicle and the vessel. We are the donkey that Christ rides in on!
9. We must arrive to each situation, proclaim the mightiness and Glory of God with his Word in that situation, and expectantly observe as God moves in it. Then we rejoice, glorify, and praise Him. These are the steps of His Faith through us! When we proclaim the mightiness of God in a situation, we are verbally describing, prophesying what we see in our hearts. To proclaim His Word and to prophesy, is to speak life into that situation.
10. After that, we testify! We should always be coveting the testimony and glory of God for his purposes!

Summary:

We must not allow our hearts to be so troubled that we do not recognize His help and love when it appears before us! We can be so distracted and numbed by offenses, that our hearts can “wax cold” like a candle being made, layer by layer and offense by offense. The reason it will be like a “thief in the night” when our Lord comes, is that many will be in darkness of this world and not in His light as taught in

1 Thessalonians 5:2 “² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”

And 1 Thessalonians 5:4 “⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.”

The expeditious fruition of all instruction, Ministry and plans of God, rely on the obedience of his people. The plans he has for each of us individually will either live with our deliberate submission and obedience to Him, or will be passed on to another willing servant, due to our faithlessness or getting ahead of God under our own wisdom and refusing to wait on Him. The overwhelming premise that God continues to bring forth in my life consistently when I am experiencing times of hardships, persecution, and attacks that affect my heart and soul, making me at my weakest, is that I need to remember who I am in Christ.

This started for me when my wife was deathly ill and I had to leave her in another state, to take my children and mother home to Georgia. I was headed back down I-75 to Florida to get back to my wife, my best friend and the love of my life. I was in deep despair, and I prayed the entire seven hours as I drove. I cried out to God and said “Lord, I don’t know what to do!”. I had reached the end of myself, and this was the moment I had my first of many visions. It was a vision of a dark-haired man, sitting on a “minor” throne in the clouds. He was about ten thousand feet up in the air, looking down on a large city through an opening in the clouds. He was wearing a crimson red robe across one shoulder and had a crown of fire floating above his head. I couldn’t see his face because I was behind him looking down. God spoke to my heart and said, “remember who you are!” I remembered that I was a joint heir with Christ! I remembered that I was clothed in his robes of righteousness that are soaked in his blood! I began to praise him for the victory that me and my family are living in, and I claimed healing over her in the name of Jesus! She was completely healed and delivered from that circumstance!! Where once we were told she might have leukemia where her bone marrow was shut down and having no immune system, and she couldn’t travel, she began to recover in a few days and was able to travel. She continued to recover and now, years later, is completely healed and healthy! I have been receiving many visions since that day!

Brothers and sisters, we must learn to be prepared for the times that are coming. Not preparing to “survive” them, but to thrive during them by the Promises and Power of God! If we do not prepare and train our hearts by His word now, and walk righteously in these small persecutions we experience, how will we fare when the deeper sorrows begin?

Pressing deeper into God will bring persecutions and attacks in our lives, and it is the same pressing deeper into his presence, that will bring us through it. Don’t ever stop!! Press even deeper!!